Impacts of the Science Teaching Survey
18 March 2026
Mike Jackson, Physics Subject Advisor
Since 2022, science teachers and technicians have been sharing their experiences in the Science Teaching Survey, led by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). This year the survey is supported by CLEAPSS and the Science Education Policy Alliance. The survey results help a wide range of organisations understand the key issues for teachers in science education.
At Cambridge OCR we’ve also heard some of the key findings in our regular stakeholder forums. These findings have helped us consider how we can support teachers better with our qualifications and supporting resources.
Challenges identified from previous surveys
RSC’s Eliza Blair wrote a blog detailing the findings of the 2023 survey, including funding challenges, staffing pressures and access to professional development.
In 2024, headlines from the survey included:
- concerns around lack of specialist teachers and other staffing issues
- an overloaded and out of date curriculum with insufficient contact time
- high teacher workload.
In 2025, the survey was completed by 1,931 teachers. Key themes were often continued from the previous surveys and included:
- the impact of funding pressures
- a shortage of teaching assistants with impact on support for some SEND students
- shortages in the technician workforce, who feel more under pressure than in the 2023 survey
- challenges to preparing young people for the future workforce.
The RSC details its support for teachers within its findings and the other organisations supporting the survey have excellent support too. These include:
Cambridge OCR resources and support
We have a wide range of free resources to support our qualifications, which we continually review and update. Most resources are available in Teach Cambridge, our secure online teachers’ website. If you don’t yet have access to Teach Cambridge, your exams officer can provide access if you currently offer Cambridge OCR qualifications.
- Our Purposeful Practicals resources for GCSE show our commitment to supporting for high quality practical work. They include:
- detailed guidance for teachers and technicians on set up and expected outcomes
- questions to help students to focus on understanding procedure, particularly helpful to non-specialists and less experienced science teachers
- integrated instructions that combine text with diagrams to make tasks easier for students to follow.
- We’ve rewritten our GCSE science mathematical skills handbook. It now gives clearer examples and practical strategies to support teachers better, including non-specialists.
- Our STEM contributors resource highlights diverse role models, with links to our specifications. This resource can help you to support Gatsby benchmarks and promoting equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) in centres.
- Our British Science Language (BSL) glossaries are also linked to our specifications and can be of benefit to all learners.
- We also offer a wide range of professional development. Many of the courses are free, while a small number of more in-depth courses have a relatively low cost, so teachers can access support without the cost of the course being a barrier. You can also request specific support by contacting the team.
- We also run regular teacher networks where we share updates, discuss particular challenges, answer questions and support networking. These free sessions are run online, as well as face-to-face where there is sufficient demand. We are happy to consider requests to support trusts and groups of centres; email support@ocr.org.uk and a subject advisor will get back to you!
Links to the Curriculum and Assessment Review
In a recent blog post we discussed the impact of the CAR on science. Themes from the Science Teaching Survey can also be seen here, especially around the curriculum content, its relevance to modern society and the challenges of practical work.
The report also acknowledges the challenges around specialist teachers and timetabling, particularly in relation to triple science. This underlines the importance of teacher feedback to decision makers and the impact it has on the future of science education.
The 2026 survey
Please do find the time to complete the 2026 survey before Friday 27 March so that science teachers are heard and can continue to have a real influence. Your input is greatly appreciated.
Stay connected
Subject advisors are here to support you, so please let us know if you have any questions, or if you would like a chat to consider or support changing to Cambridge OCR. We also welcome ongoing feedback from centres.
Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you have any questions, you can email us at science@ocr.org.uk or call us on 01223 553998. We each have a Teams booking page which you can use to set up a virtual meeting with us too.
You can also sign up to subject updates to keep up-to-date with the latest news, updates and resources.
About the author
Mike joined Cambridge OCR in January 2024 and is a subject advisor for A Level Physics. Mike completed an MA in Education at the University of Birmingham in 2014. Before joining Cambridge OCR, he was a teacher for over 15 years, with roles included Acting Assistant Head, Head of Science, Physics Network Lead for a trust, a STEM Learning Facilitator and an SLE for Science. Mike is passionate about inclusion in education, environment and sustainability.